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The South Dakota Advance Directive sets in motion the institution of a written agreement designed to allow a person to make health care arrangements ahead of time for future situations. The document issues both powers to a designated party as well as a specified concrete understanding of the declarant’s wishes for possible treatment(s). Agency granted to the assigned attorney-in-fact will commence only once the principal is presumed to be in a state where they can no longer voice their choices. Conditions affirmed by a doctor, such as a coma or other consistently unconscious capacities, will warrant the agency’s initiation. A portion of the form additionally incorporates questions regarding how particular health circumstances are to be handled. This segment of the paperwork will cover several potential contingencies allowing the principal to indicate the desired course of action for pain management, organ donation, resuscitation, and life support. There is also an area for the issuing individual to summarize their beliefs surrounding health treatment options to aid in preference identification.

Laws

Statute – South Dakota Health Care Consent Procedures ( § 34-12C-1 – § 34-12C-9) and South Dakota Living Wills ( § 34-12D-1 – § 34-12D-29)

Definitions – “A principal may designate any other person as the principal’s attorney-in-fact or agent for health care decisions, and the attorney-in-fact shall have the authority to make any health care decision at any time during which the principal lacks capacity” (§ 59-7-2.1).

Signing Requirements – To lawfully enforce the contents of the arrangement, the document must be signed in the presence of a notary official and two suitable witnessing parties per the South Dakota Codified Laws § 34-12D-2.

Revocation – (§ 34-12D-18)